Paul McGann special year possible?

On the contrary, I think it'd be received well. The problem with Baker to McCoy is that Baker had a lame ending and it wasn't even Colin Baker playing him. In this case there'd be a McGann adventure and then he'd regenerate at the end. You wouldn't even need to put Eccleston in there if there was an issue. Just end with the regeneration.

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Well, yes, that's just my point. If you end it honestly with McGann just beginning his regeneration, a la "The War Games," that could work fine; but if you paste in stock footage of Eccleston and pretend he was involved when he really wasn't, that would be seen by a lot of fans as a cheap trick, just like putting McCoy in a wig and pretending he was Baker was a cheap trick.

Though I think maybe it's best if the mystery of the Time War is preserved. I'd like to see a season of McGann having normal Doctor-style adventures and then end with him just heading off to begin fighting the Time War, and letting that be the last we see of him. The Doctor went to such a dark place during the War itself that I don't think I'd really want to see it. It wouldn't really be Doctor Who, any more than watching the Doctor sulk in a 13th-century monastery for a whole season would've been. Better to just show the before and after of those anomalous periods and focus the show itself on the times when he's wandering the cosmos having adventures with companions by his side.

The Silence and Time War plots could connect somehow so he'd regenerate in the anniversary special in the midst of Time War. It would only be a small tangent of that war of course.

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The Time War's time-locked, though. isn't it?! On the other hand, if both the Daleks and the Timelords could come up with a plan to escape the time-lock, I guess The Silence and/or The Doctor could pick the time-lock, too.

Anyway, I love McGann's Doctor, I love the Big Finish series with him, and I'd be all for more Eight. That said, I don't believe it's anywhere even remote to happening.

I always kinda thought the Time War had some event that ended with the death of the 8th doctor and the regeneration into the 9th doctor but there's no real evidence to say this with anything on screen.

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Indeed, RTD intended the Time War to have been fought by the Ninth Doctor. In fact he was initially supportive of a storyline planned for DWM's comic strip featuring the Eighth Doctor regenerating into the Ninth, though that fell apart when they couldn't agree on certain details. I believe DWM wanted the Eighth Doctor's comic companions to stay with him after regenerating but RTD insisted that Rose had to be the Ninth Doctor's first companion.

But official BBC material and indeed DWM themselves now suggest the Eighth Doctor's regeneration was something related to the Time War.

Really, though the Time War was RTD's story and he did all he wanted to do with it (unless he actually was serious about the off-hand mention of a "Time War novel" in The Writer's Tale). Moffat has shown no real interest in the Time War since he took over, with only two vague mentions made about it. I doubt the show is revisiting it any time soon.

Indeed, RTD intended the Time War to have been fought by the Ninth Doctor. In fact he was initially supportive of a storyline planned for DWM's comic strip featuring the Eighth Doctor regenerating into the Ninth, though that fell apart when they couldn't agree on certain details. I believe DWM wanted the Eighth Doctor's comic companions to stay with him after regenerating but RTD insisted that Rose had to be the Ninth Doctor's first companion.

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That was exactly it. DWM wanted to pair the ninth Doctor with Destrii for at least one post-regeneration story, but RTD and Julie Gardner said that, no, the ninth Doctor had to appear with Rose because that was the brand. They contemplated a story where the regeneration didn't exactly finalize (the ninth Doctor would have been like the Dormammu), letting them write out Destrii, but then they decided that would be silly.

But official BBC material and indeed DWM themselves now suggest the Eighth Doctor's regeneration was something related to the Time War.

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It's been argued that RTD himself changed his mind on the question based on the "born in fire" dialogue in "Journey's End."

The eighth Doctor chapter of Tony Lee's The Forgotten appears to be set during the Time War. However, that chapter also has an explanation for the half-human revelation of the television movie that simply doesn't work with what we saw on-screen, so I tend to discount that chapter.

Let's say Matt Smith leaves after the current series or is still undecided, if he returns...

What do you think of McGann returning in a special prequel year similar to the Tennant specials after series 4?

They could end with his regeneration into 8 or leave his fate open for later appearances, but give him a few key stories, foreshadow events we know are coming for later doctors or set up stories for 11 and 12 to give them bigger scope and meaning.

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Yes, yes, a million times yes!

I'd give it to RTD to do though. He seems to have a style more like the 96 film that Moffatt, I think he'd pull it off better, or maybe a combination of the two. Or why no just give it to the original crew to do???

but RTD and Julie Gardner said that, no, the ninth Doctor had to appear with Rose because that was the brand.

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And The Brand is why the idea of a McGann Doctor year just won't happen, it doesn't fit with how the BBC see Doctor Who as A Brand. Matt Smith is the current Brand, when he goes, the 12th Doctor will be the new one. Confusing that by having McGann back for a while breaks the rules of Branding (bear in mind that, initially, the brand managers didn't want anything pre-11th Doctor, let alone pre-9th, in the Doctor Who Experience, and had to persuaded round. Because rule one of branding is you don't let the brand get polluted by old associations).

I personally would love this but I think that it would be a big risk for the BBC to do and would probably largely only appeal to completists.

The only way I can see it happening would be if they were planning to end the series and move into movies, either with or without Smith. They would be unwilling to use the Movie Doctor for a tv show (why pay to see what you can see on tv for free?) and would want to keep him for the movie. And they'd hardly sign up a new actor for the role for a short tv series to keep the part warm for the Movie Doctor. Certainly if Smith was going to be in the movie, it would make no sense to cast the Twelth Doctor, then return to Eleven for the movies.

If, however, and it's a hell of a big if, they wanted to keep awareness of the character and show up there while the movie was being planned and produced, this would be one way of doing it, without raising continuity issues and dealing with actor egos ('I'm not signing up for one tv series, just so you can use me as a stopgap actor!') or risking the audience like this Doctor better than the Movie Doctor.

But even then, it's still a big gamble for the BBC and, of course, it's dependent on McGann wanting to do it too (though I've a feeling he would).

Personally, if McGann appears in the 50th Anniversary special, I'll be content with that.

I'd like them to do a Time war film with McGann for the main course of it, and hopefully they'd persuade Eccleston to return for a cameo at the end of it.

The film wouldn't just be any ordinary TV movie though, it'd be cool if it was released cinematically as a big block buster. Maybe have it with the current doctor telling/narrating it as a story at the beginning and the end of the film like someone on here suggested they should do.

Thinking about it, the BBC has long been fond of prequels - they did ones to Last of the Summer Wine (called First of the Summer Wine) while that show was still airing and one to Only Fools and Horses called Sex, Drugs, Rock & Chips after OFAH ended its run. Across channels, ITV is about to show an Inspector Morse prequel called Endeavour.

McGann is not a box-office draw but his presence in a tv drama does tend to attract notice and a certain cachet. So something like this is not entirely inconceivable but I still think it's very unlikely. Probably the best opportunity would have been,as Christopher suggested, when Tennant was doing stagework, as a sort of stopgap.

If McGann does appear in the 50th special and there's a positive response to his Doctor and a similar situation arises in the future (Matt or his successor taking a year off for movie or other commitments), I could see this happening. But that's still a lot of 'ifs.'

The trouble arises if the stop gap proves more popular than the current incumbant? What would have happened if Tennant went off to do Hamlet and while he was gone everyone loved McGann more? Plus to the majority of viewers you're effectively introducing McGann as a brand new Doctor, but then saying he's only going to be around for a few episodes before Tennant/Smith returns.

Doing prequels is fine if you don't have anywhere to take the characters on going forward, but Who has that, you just change Doctor.

^Yeah, I think I may have raised the point about the popularity of the stopgap in my earlier post in the thread. And you're right about the 'going forward' point too - the LOTSW and OFAH prequels were made as the ageing and/or expensive casts of the originals meant limited shelf lives for them.

I do think that the prospect raised by this thread is unlikely in the extreme. But then again, Who has shown that almost anything is possible.

Probably the best opportunity would have been,as Christopher suggested, when Tennant was doing stagework, as a sort of stopgap.

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The misconception everyone seems to have is that Tennant's Shakespeare thing was the reason for the "gap year" in 2009. RTD had in fact planned during production of the second season to take a break after the fourth season. Tennant was made aware of these plans and arranged the Shakespeare thing because he knew he had a free year coming up. In fact, RTD says that had he stayed with the show there would have been a gap year after every fourth season.

I think the gap year was in theory a good idea, I just think the execution was poor, the specials just seemed to be scattered willy-nilly, I'd have rather had a five concecutive day run like Torchwood COE.

I think the gap year was in theory a good idea, I just think the execution was poor, the specials just seemed to be scattered willy-nilly, I'd have rather had a five concecutive day run like Torchwood COE.

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In hindsight, the gap year was arguably a very bad idea - they had trouble getting funding for the specials, it damaged the income from tie-in sales (Character Options' profits slumped), may have broken the viewing habit among children, lost the show momentum in the overseas markets, and more...

I think the gap year was in theory a good idea, I just think the execution was poor, the specials just seemed to be scattered willy-nilly, I'd have rather had a five concecutive day run like Torchwood COE.

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In hindsight, the gap year was arguably a very bad idea - they had trouble getting funding for the specials, it damaged the income from tie-in sales (Character Options' profits slumped), may have broken the viewing habit among children, lost the show momentum in the overseas markets, and more...

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I can't disagree with that, but I still wonder if it had been handled better those downsides could have been avoided, and I certainly think RTD had a good point, to give the show a breather every x-years to try and keep it fresh.

I think the gap year was in theory a good idea, I just think the execution was poor, the specials just seemed to be scattered willy-nilly, I'd have rather had a five concecutive day run like Torchwood COE.

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Personally, I'm not a fan of the five night event that Children of Earth was. Though that's primarily because the week that aired was the worse possible week for me to be staying up to watch TV every night. Hell, the whole ordeal soured my opinion of COE to the point that it wasn't until I rewatched it on DVD last year (or rather very late 2011) that I actually saw why everyone praises it.

But, yeah, I agree the way the DW specials were aired was kind of sloppy. Planet of the Dead in April, then nothing until November. I'd have had the specials spaced a lot more even. Say one in spring, another in summer, another in fall, and then the Christmas special.

In hindsight, the gap year was arguably a very bad idea - they had trouble getting funding for the specials, it damaged the income from tie-in sales (Character Options' profits slumped), may have broken the viewing habit among children, lost the show momentum in the overseas markets, and more...

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I don't know about overseas markets. At the very least, it was in 2009, starting with The Next Doctor that the show moved to BBC America in the US, and Space in Canada. A move that has done much to raise the popularity of the show in both countries. Granted, much of that is probably more a by-product of Smith starting a year later, but still.

I liked the way Children of Earth was presented. It was a story that covered five days, one day per episode, and it was aired over five days, so it was more or less in real time, which was interesting. And it made it more intense than if it were spread out over five weeks.